BREAKING: Board votes to ban cyclists on Loop 49

The North East Texas Regional Mobility Authority voted 7-6 to rescind the agreement with cyclists and ban bikes from Loop 49.

The NETRMA board also rejected a resolution today that would have allowed limited usage by cyclists of Toll 49 in Tyler. The resolution would have allowed cyclists to use special bike lanes on Loop 49 from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

Today’s meeting comes more than three months after the NETRMA board voted 7-2 to allow bicycle access on segments connecting Texas Highway 155 near Noonday to Texas Highway 110 near Whitehouse. Bicycles were prohibited from Texas Highway 155 to Interstate 20.

The agreement was contingent upon the “bicycling community” funding safety improvements, including striping and signs, along the three segments by the board's meeting today.

NETRMA estimated that striping a 4-foot-wide bicycle lane near the outside edge of Toll 49’s shoulder and signage would cost $60,000. In mid-June, the bicycle club announced it had raised the money. The NETRMA board met today in Texarkana.